Labor Talks on Stage

By STEVEN GREENHOUSE

Published: June 12, 2004

If labor negotiations are theater, there was a wide selection of shows to choose from this week.

With a series of strikes, protests and marches, New York City's labor unions turned their disputes into high drama, disrupting the lives of thousands of New Yorkers, most notably parents who use city day care centers and elderly and sick patients who rely on home-health aides.

As with all good theater, this week's labor unrest was filled with plots, subplots, surprises and ambiguities -- it was certainly unclear who the heroes and villains were.

If there was an overarching plot, it was that the unions were seeking to step up pressure on the city and state officials, especially Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, to provide more money for raises.

One unmistakable subplot was that union leaders were seeking to show themselves leading, being aggressive while negotiations languish. If the unions fail to obtain higher raises than those already on the table, then union leaders can at least proclaim that they fought the good fight, fired their biggest weapons.

''The unions are trying to squeeze as much as possible out of the mayor, and he's trying to give up as little as possible,'' said Raymond Horton, a Columbia University Business School professor. ''Union leaders are doing all this in part to posture, to show themselves as strong leaders. But you have to be careful because if you posture and don't get what you want, it looks as if you're not able to deliver.''

When more than 20,000 teachers, police officers and firefighters demonstrated on Tuesday in what union leaders said was the largest labor protest at City Hall in years, they were making a frontal assault on Mr. Bloomberg, his bargaining stance and his popularity. (The rally's unspoken subplot was that if Mr. Bloomberg did not offer higher raises than he already has, the unions would mobilize against him when he runs for re-election.)

The plot involving 7,000 striking day care workers was more complicated. They shut down 350 day care centers and disrupted the lives of more than 27,000 children and their parents in an indirect effort -- a carom shot, if you will -- to pressure Mr. Bloomberg. The day care centers are privately run, but the city provides almost all of their financing, so the day care workers are directing their appeals to the mayor because he indirectly pays their salaries.

The other big actor in this week's unrest was 1199/S.E.I.U., the giant health care union, which called a three-day strike by 23,000 home health aides. The union directed its fire at 11 home-care agencies, with the walkout inconveniencing elderly and sick patients, although all of them ended up receiving help from aides or nurses. The union demanded that the agencies pay $10 an hour, up from the current wage of $7.

In some ways, 1199's demands were aimed more at Albany than at the care agencies, with the union hoping that state lawmakers would provide more money for raises through higher reimbursement rates or would force the agencies to devote more of their $17-an-hour reimbursement rate to raises.

Labor leaders insisted that it was a coincidence that three big labor actions took place the same week, although they acknowledged that if one is going to hold protests or strikes, what better month to do so than warm weather June?

''You might not believe me, but it's pure coincidence,'' said Randi Weingarten, president of the United Federation of Teachers. ''The city has a big budget surplus, the national economy is improving, and that motivates people who feel left behind to be militant and more active.''

If there was a common theme in all three acts in this week's drama, it was fairness. The health aides asserted that it was unfair for workers to live on $7 an hour. The day care workers said Mr. Bloomberg was being unfair in refusing to give them the 9 percent raise that other city unions received three years ago. The day care workers have not had a raise since December 2000.

Mr. Bloomberg is seeking to skip the 9 percent raise and is instead offering the day care workers the 5 percent raise over three years that he gave this spring to the largest municipal union, District Council 37.

The teachers, police officers and firefighters, asserting that their work is especially valuable, insist that it is unfair for Mr. Bloomberg to offer them the same 5 percent as D.C. 37.

City Hall officials assert that with a $3.5 billion deficit projected for fiscal year 2006, they cannot afford to give municipal unions more than that 5 percent raise.

Ms. Weingarten said, ''The theme of this week is that all these workers need to be treated fairly, and they haven't been treated fairly the last one, two, three years.''

What happens next in these three dramas remains unclear. Four home-care agencies agreed to contracts paying the health aides $10 an hour, but seven other agencies continue to reject the union's demand.

The health aides are threatening more strikes this summer even though it is painful for workers who earn so little to go on strike. But officials at 1199 voice optimism since they usually emerge victorious in labor battles, partly because the union has so many friends in Albany.

In contrast, the day care workers' union is not viewed as especially strong or sophisticated, but this week it took one of its most aggressive actions to try to force the mayor's hand. But he is digging in, and the day care workers, without a raise for 42 months, could decide to accept a far smaller raise than they hoped, instead of negotiating indefinitely.

The police and teachers want an outside panel to recommend a contract -- for the police, the panel's recommendation would be binding, for the teachers, nonbinding. But City Hall opposes such a panel, saying contracts should be settled at the bargaining table, not by outsiders.

Responding to this week's unrest, Mr. Bloomberg said, ''I'm sure everyone would like to get paid more, but unfortunately we just don't have the money.''